Leó Szilárd

Leo Szilard
Szilard, c. 1960
Born	(1898-02-11)February 11, 1898 Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	May 30, 1964(1964-05-30) (aged 66) La Jolla, California, United States
Residence	Hungary, Germany, United Kingdom, United States
Citizenship	Hungary Germany United States
Fields	Physics, biology
Institutions	Humboldt University of Berlin Columbia University University of Chicago Salk Institute
Alma mater	Budapest Technical University Technical University of Berlin Humboldt University
Thesis	Über die thermodynamischen Schwankungserscheinungen (1923)
Doctoral advisor	Max von Laue
Other academic advisors	Albert Einstein
Known for	Nuclear chain reaction Szilárd petition Einstein–Szilárd letter Cobalt bomb Absorption refrigerator Szilárd Engine Szilard–Chalmers effect Einstein–Szilard refrigerator
Notable awards	Atoms for Peace Award (1959) Albert Einstein Award (1960)

Leo Szilard (/ˈsɪlɑːrd/; Hungarian: Szilárd Leó; pronounced [ˈsila:rd ˈlɛo:]; German: Leo Spitz until age 2; February 11, 1898 – May 30, 1964) was a Jewish Hungarian-born physicist and inventor. He conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb.

Szilard initially attended Palatine Joseph Technical University in Budapest, but his engineering studies were interrupted by service in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I. He left Hungary for Germany in 1919, enrolling at Technische Hochschule (Institute of Technology) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, but became bored with engineering and transferred to Friedrich Wilhelm University, where he studied physics. He wrote his doctoral thesis on Maxwell's demon, a long-standing puzzle in the philosophy of thermal and statistical physics. Szilard was the first to recognize the connection between thermodynamics and Information theory.